Monday, July 22, 2013

Cheeseburger In Paradise

I really like to experiment in the kitchen.  With 3 kiddos, I try not to do anything too crazy, but I do like to have fun and see if I can come up with something new.  Yesterday I saw a recipe on Pinterest (Oh, Pinterest, what did we waste time on before you came along?) that sounded good.  The problem was that I didn't have the sausage the recipe called for.  I did have some Ground Chuck though and thought I could adapt it.

You can find the original Pinterest link for Sausage Brownies HERE. The original recipe link is HERE.

This is what I did instead!

Bacon Cheeseburger Squares

2 tubes crescent rolls
1 lb. ground chuck (that is what I used, you could use any ground meat)
1 onion, diced
1 8oz. pkg cream cheese
1 pkg. REAL bacon pieces
2 c. shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out one tube of crescent rolls in the bottom and up 1/2" on the sides of an UNGREASED 9x13 pan.
Brown your hamburger and onion in a pan and drain very well.
In same pan, melt the block of cream cheese on low.  Add meat/onion mixture to cream cheese and mix.  Spoon meat mixture over crescent rolls.  Sprinkle with bacon pieces and then top with the shredded cheese.  Unroll 2nd tube of crescent rolls and place on top of cheese, trying to seal the perforations in the dough, but don't worry about it being perfect.
Bake for 22-24 minutes.

They were really great!  The kids ate it up like crazy!  I think there are definitely ways to improve on what I did and next time I think I will try some A1 Sauce in the meat mixture for a little extra something.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Happy Cooking!!

Blessings,
Theresa


Sunday, July 14, 2013

I Will Survivie

I have to tell you all about a very devastating problem I have developed.  I have looked into treatment, but there really is only one cure.  Unfortunately, this cure could potentially cause complications in my life and could even cause the problem to become more severe.

That is right, I have STARTITIS.  I know, I know, it is just awful.  Startitis affects 99% of knitters at one time or another and can lead to very late nights, a very messy yarn storage unit/closet/room, a dead computer battery, and even potentially an upset husband.

For those that are unaware of what Startitis is and just how serious it can be, let me fill you in.  Startitis is a condition that causes a knitter to become completely unhappy with everything she (I am fully aware that knitters can be men, and I encourage them to become knitters, but for the purposes of this blog, I will be using feminine pronouns!) is knitting and makes her feel that she has to start a new project immediately.  Sometimes Startitis can even cause a knitter to feel the need to cast on 2, 3, or even more projects right away.  Startitis can strike without warning and can last for a long time until the new items are started or until the knitter has a refreshed love of the project(s) that she has already been working on (the latter is extremely rare and may only be a very temporary reprieve from the symptoms of Startitis!).

The only cure is to begin at least 1 new project, and beginning more than one project will increase the knitter's chances of overcoming startitis.  Occasionally, this "cure" can have the opposite effect on a knitter and will cause her to dislike every brand new thing she casts on causing her to rip back, or "frog", everything she attempts to do.  The knitter will usually spend hours on websites such as Ravelry or Pinterest in order to find that "perfect" pattern to help her overcome startitis, sometimes causing the knitter to avoid going to bed until wee hours of the morning.  The places in which a knitter stores her yarn will usually be destroyed as the knitter attempts to sort through the already owned yarn for inspiration.  Many times, even though the knitter has an enormous amount of yarn, the knitter will not be able to find the "right" yarn for the "right" pattern and will end up at the yarn store battling with other knitters afflicted with the same problem.

I urge you to approach knitters dealing with Startitis with caution, especially if you are wearing a sweater or knitted hat or scarf.  She might not be able to help herself as she grabs a hold of your sleeve and feels the fiber of the sweater in between her fingers or looks at how the sleeves are connected and wondering if she could recreate the design.  Do not be afraid if this should happen, just stand their quietly while the knitter looks, she will eventually let go.  For your own safety, do not ask a knitter who is afflicted with Startitis what she is working on lately.  She will appreciate your restraint, and you will appreciate not having to listen to her complain that she is unhappy with everything in her knitting bag.  

So, as I began this blog post telling you, I have been struck with Startitis.  I have a sweater, a shawl, a sock, and a scarf on needles currently and I am not enjoying any of them.  I have been looking online for 4 hours trying to find something I would like to knit.  I have not ventured into the yarn closet yet, but I would imagine that will happen tomorrow.  So, if you see this knitter tomorrow, approach with caution.  I will probably have the previously mentioned shawl in my hands and may even be scowling at it with every stitch.  Hopefully, Startitis will pass quickly and allow me to enjoy my current projects again.  Mainly because most likely 3 of the 4 projects I have going on were the result of my last fight with Startitis.

As a final suggestion, if you know a knitter who has been struck with Startitis and you see her working on her knitting, be sure to tell her how beautiful it is.  Even it if it s big lumpy pile of something the color of which you can only describe as breastfed infant poop yellow, complement it.  You will not only bring a smile to the knitter's face, but also might save her a fight with her husband as he is tired of yarn being strewn throughout the house as she looks for her next Startitis fix.

Blessings,
Theresa

This is the Cake version of "I Will Survive".  I LOVE Gloria Gaynor's version, but Cake's rendition always makes me smile.  I hope it makes you smile too!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

57 Channels (And Nothin' On)

Yesterday I told you I was a Nerd.  Today I'm going to tell you something else about me.  I am not a big fan of reality competitions.  The only exceptions to that are The Biggest Loser and The Sing-Off.  I love both of them. What I have apparently become a big fan of however are the "reality" shows on A&E, The History Channel, and The Discovery Channel.  My absolute favorite is Duck Dynasty.  Those God-loving, gun-toting red-necks crack me up.  I know that I am not alone and that there are many others that share my enjoyment of the show.  I also really enjoy Sons Of Guns and have gotten my sweet husband watching it to.  It is really run to watch them blow stuff up.  Storage Wars and American Pickers are other favorites in this house.

E has somehow gotten me to watch Counting Cars now and I have totally gotten sucked into it.  So much so that last night I was watching it with him and he went to bed.  I was working on some things, so I stayed up watching it.  Soon it was over and I hadn't changed the channel.  The next show that was on was called God, Guns, & Automobiles.  Let me tell you all, this show was NUTS!  There were parts of it that had me cracking up, but there were parts that made me want to throttle this man.  Max Muller runs a car dealership in Missouri and he is crazy.  In the 2 episodes I watched, he blew up a truck, took some goats in trade, made a deal with one of his salesman to ride a bull, and tried putting the fear of God into his kids.  I'm happy to see shows about faithful families, but this man was so over the top it was scary.  He has such a tight leash around his kids that I see one of these kids losing it one day.  It made me truly scared for them.  I said a little prayer for that family.  I don't mean any judgement on Max or his family, it just made me sad when the TV crews showed the boys' faces as their father is coming down on them.  I hope that everything was over-dramatized for the show.

Ok, off my soap box for now.  What about you?  What is your guilty pleasure show?

Blessings,
Theresa


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

White & Nerdy

I have a confession.  Well, not sure if it is really a confession since most people that know me as an adult already know this about me, but I'm going to put it out there.  Hoo, okay, here it goes.  I am a NERD.  Yes, you read that right, I am a Nerd.  

I grew up on a farm in the country and went to a very small school.  Now, like most kids in middle school, I tried my best to fit in.  I didn't want to stick out or be unlike anyone else.  I was afraid of being made fun of.  I was afraid of what other people would think of me.  High school proved to be more of the same.  I was just scared to be different.

I remember some guys I went to school with and they were not afraid to be different.  They were who they were and were proud of that.  There was one guy who would occasionally wear a Star Trek uniform to school, even on a normal non-dress-up day.  I remember hearing people make fun of him behind his back (I don't remember that I made fun of him.  If I did, I blocked that out.  For privacy reasons, I am not going to use his name, but if you are reading this, and I did make fun of you, please PLEASE please accept my biggest apologies...I was an idiot!).  Why make fun of someone who was different?  He was bold and courageous, but in reality, he was just being himself.  I envied that.

Well now, let me fill you in on who I was in High School.  I was an obsessively good student, I was an athlete, I was an Honor Student.  I was involved in just about every club or activity I could be.  I didn't party, I didn't drink, I didn't have sex.  I enjoyed hanging out with my parents on Friday nights and watching Star Wars.  Looking back, what does that make me?  Yes, you guessed it, a nerd, different, diverse from most others; the one thing I did NOT want to be.  I just didn't know how to accept that part of myself and own it.

It has taken me a long time to embrace my Inner-Nerd.  You will notice that as an adult I consider myself a Nerd and not a nerd.  I now know that being a Nerd is NOT a bad thing.  It is someone that enjoys something with a passion that others might find odd.  There are Star Wars Nerds (guilty), Star Trek Nerds (guilty), and Harry Potter Nerds (guilty).  There are sports Nerds (guilty-football), craft Nerds (guilty-knitting), and book Nerds (guilty-all of them!).There are also education Nerds (SO NOT guilty!), but they have become most well known through shows like The Big Bang Theory  Someone can be a Nerd about every single facet of life, no matter now little, big, mainstream, or obscure.  And that is AWESOME!  I really think if every single person on Earth were truly honest with themselves, they would admit that they are a Nerd about SOMETHING! Here is a link to a fantastic image of Wil Wheaton (for the non Star Trek Nerds, he played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation) talking about being a Nerd:


*I'm not sure where this originally came from.  I went back as far from Pinterest as I could!

As an adult, well my Nerd-ness has grown and I am okay with that.  I love Superhero movies.  I get excited when any of the Jurassic Park movies are on.  When I find a great new Paranormal Fiction author, I become giddy.  I firmly believe that the original Star Wars are really the best and can not be improved upon, but that will not stop me one bit from going to see the new releases when they come out. I love to look up the little trivia facts that are at the bottom of IMDB to most movies and TV shows I watch.  I PROUDLY tell people I am a Nerd and I embrace every second of it.  And when my Nerd interests combine, like knitting while watching The Avengers, I almost combust!

Right about now, you might be asking yourself where in the world I am going with this blog post.  I promise your Honor, I have a point, don't Sustain the Objection yet!  I actually have 2 points!!  

My first point is this: DO NOT JUDGE someone just because they may be different than you.  And on the flip side of that, DO NOT BE AFRAID to be different just because someone may judge you.  God made us all different.  We all have different Stripes and Spots, and they are all beautiful.  You are loved, you can be different and it is highly encouraged!  Embrace your Nerd.  Find him or her and love every single thing about that Nerd.  

My second point?  I am turning my kids into Nerds.  I only hope and pray that I can teach them to be comfortable with themselves and love being a Nerd.  It is an awesome thing and I absolutely adore that they are following Mommy's foot prints!

Today we played Star Wars in the back yard.  We were complete with Pool Noodle Light Sabers and Water Gun Blasters.  It was the most fun I have had in a LONG time.  We laughed and laughed.  That is a memory that I will carry for the rest of my life, and I hope my 2 littlest ones do too!


Blessings,
Theresa

Please no one be offended by the Title or this Video by Weird Al, it was just too funny to not post!  Nerds come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and economic class!  No Nerd discrimination here!

Don't Fence Me In

We just finished up a great Holiday weekend and let me just tell you how we celebrated in our house.  We built a
cage fence to enclose our back yard.  Yep, exciting way to spend 4 days isn't it?  This is something I have been wanting to do for a really long time (pretty much since our first child was born!) and I finally was able to talk the hubs into it.  He wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but after some gentle coaxing (not annoying badgering at all!) from me, he came around. We were able to get everything except the gates finished.  I am telling you, we worked our tails off, but it looks fantastic!  I am going to love feeling safe in our back yard!
We love our school system and have decided that we are going to stay in our house at least until the kiddos are in middle school (the residential opportunities open up greatly once the kids are in middle school).  So, that means that we are attempting to fix up the house in ways that we had put off when we thought we would move.  A couple of weeks ago, we put a fire pit in and I LOVE it!  It is so great to be able to have bonfires whenever we want (no worries, we live outside of city limits!) and the kids love the chance to have S'mores!  I have been making a list of the different things we want to do around here and my home improvement board ("Fixin' Up The Ol' Homestead") on Pinterest is getting longer! Once the fence gates are finished, I think landscaping is next on my agenda.
So, my question to you dear reader(s) is this: what DIY project have you done around your house?  Would you do anything differently with it now that you have done it? What is your next DIY Home Improvement Project?
Blessings,
Theresa


Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!
Be safe and have fun!
We are enjoying our annual family tradition and watching Will Smith battle aliens with Jeff Goldblume!
Blessings,
Theresa 

Whoomp, There It Is!

Woo Hoo!  I found the elusive book!  I took another look in my car and after looking at everything in a new light, I found it lurking under my driver's seat.  So glad to avoid the major replacement fine at the library!  Thanks so much to all those that were concerned...I know there are many!!
Blessings,
Theresa


Can't Stand Losing You

I have torn my house apart today.  I have misplaced a library book and can not find it ANYWHERE!!  Seriously people, I am absolutely clueless as to where this book could be.  I have looked in my car.  I have looked throughout my house.  I have even looked in the bag where the library books go.  It has disappeared.  I think that the little elf that comes in and steals one sock out of the wash machine must have taken it.  I am not giving up though.  I refuse to let a book break me.  As many books as I read and I have not lost one yet, today will not be the first.  I am on a mission.  It must be here somewhere, right?
So, as I have been tearing apart the house trying to find this book, I ended up cleaning out my yarn corner by the couch.  I am telling you reader(s), this turned in to quite the endeavor!  I ended up pulling all the balls, skeins, hanks, and messes of yarn out of the different bags that I had piled there and started winding them all up into what are called "yarn cakes".  Wow! Do I have a lot of yarn!  In reality, I know that I have a lot of yarn, I mean I have an entire closet full of it, but seeing a whole mess of it "caked" up like that was shocking! Not shocking enough to get rid of any, but shocking none the less! Oh well, at least I know that if we ever lose electricity in the middle of winter, we will not freeze as there is enough wool in the house to keep this family of 5 cozy for several
days weeks.  And, let's not forget that I can always stuff it in the walls if we need more insulation! 
M wanted to help me wind my yarn.  I let him do it a couple of times, but after I had rewound pretty much everything that he had wound, I said that he had done enough.  I took over amid a lot of very loud cries and the yelling of "You're a Mean Mommy!"  What is that about?  I let him do what he wanted for 5 minutes (even though letting him do it caused more work for me!) and then when I told him he was done, I get told that I am a mean mommy?  And even more curious to me is why I let it bother me.  Someone (probably more like someones than someone, but I do not remember who so it doesn't really matter) told me that if I wasn't being told that I was a mean mommy or that they hate me or something like that at least once a day, then I am not doing my job.  Let me just say that the payment for doing my job should be at least chocolate, wine, or at least more yarn (since you know, I don't actually get paid to be a mommy!) and not cries that my "bosses" think I suck at it.  Before anyone lectures me about how I should handle this type of situation, I did tell him that I did not appreciate him saying that too me and that it hurt my feelings.  He told me he was sorry and I know he felt bad about it (not my intent, but hopefully it will keep it from happening again), but it is just frustrating sometimes, you know?  Why can't they all just behave perfectly without having to be directed?  And, if I'm asking, why do they have to be fed and clothed every day?  I mean it, I want to get all of the laundry done one day and then have naked day the next day just so I do not have to do an extra load of laundry.  Is that too much to ask??
Blessings,
Theresa


This Is The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life

Obviously, I have decided to start a new blog.  I am not going to tell you what this blog will be specifically about as I am sure that every day will be completely different.  I miss writing and I miss telling my story, so I plan to use this forum to do just that.  Some days may be about my family, some days about my faith.  Sometimes I will tell you about my friends and sometimes about my hobbies (of which there are MANY!).  Really, I am pretty much figuring that anything goes.  I am really excited and I hope that as you read all about my insane and crazy, wonderful and beautiful life, you will be excited too!  And if you aren't, that is okay! We each have our own story to tell and if you don't want to read mine, please, I encourage you to go write your own!
For my first post today, I have to tell you a little about how my day went today so you can see a couple of the "kinds" of me.  My day consisted of getting my sweat on at the gym, stopping at 2 different churches, the post office, and the grocery store.  Then I had a friend stop by and showed me the new sight on his 9mm pistol and after that I turned a heel on a sock (knitting term simply meaning that I did the magical knitting that turned the sock from the leg to the foot.).  After that I got dressed up and went to my Mary Kay Consultant Meeting.  Then I made this blog. :) Oh, and I made some yummy sausage stars to take to my meeting and to eat for dinner.
So, like I said, that was my crazy and incredibly varied day.  I actually felt all day that today my life was just a walking blog post, so I figured I might as well go with it!  There are a lot of different "kinds" and sides of me and I am excited to share them with you.  I hope that you will enjoy the ride here at Cheetah Stripes and Zebra Spots, I know that I am going to!!
Blessings,
Theresa